Q2 Digital Marketing Round-Up: SEO & Social Media Updates

There have been multiple SEO and social media updates in the past quarter, including new user features and content restrictions. Stay on top of the changes that are happening with Google, Facebook, and Pinterest’s functionality.

SEO Updates

New attributes to Google ‘My business’

New features are available in Google’s ‘My Business’ tool, including the ability to edit and add services or a business description – for example, “women-led company” to distinguish a business. Additionally, customers are now able to receive notifications when a business responds to their review. This gives businesses greater control over how they interact with customers while also elevating the consumer experience.

Google penalizes sites for not removing job listings that have been filled

Inactive job listings reported through manual action can now lead to a site being demoted or removed from Google’s search results. Human reviewers manually check and flag inactive job listings. The result of not complying with Google’s webmaster quality guidelines will set back a site’s efforts of improving search engagement.

Google’s ‘Mobile-First’ Index Rolls out

Google is recognizing the dominance of mobile search in recent years and will thus prioritize the mobile experience over the desktop experience. Google has stated that there will not be a separate desktop index.

Google Labeling Sites ‘Not secure’ in July

Google announced that, as of July of 2018, all websites that are not HTTPS will be labeled as ‘unsecure’ in browsers. Non-compliant sites will experience lower rankings from Google to help prevent users from interacting with untrustworthy links.

Voice Search trends

The use of digital assistants continues to rise. Users can now speak Spanish and have Google Assistant operate in Spanish. Users can also purchase movie tickets from Fandango using Google Assistant. Currently 6% of the population that uses the speakers also makes purchases through digital assistants. According to eMarketer’s ‘Behind the Numbers’ podcast, by 2020, one third of the population will use digital assistants.

Social Media Updates

Facebook rolls out authorization process

Facebook now requires every advertiser to complete a verification process if they want to post political ads on the site. Note that “political ads” include both election or policy related ads, as well as content on issues that are of concern to the general public like education and health care. Facebook asks that page and account administrators submit government issued ID and residential mailing addresses for verification, along with a unique access code that is specific to the page admin. Disclosure of who is paying for the ads is also a part of this new approval process to make ads more transparent.

In addition to new community standards, Facebook advertisers will now get an alert if the content they posted violates a standard. If Facebook removes content, advertisers have the option to appeal the removal by requesting for manual review handled by a Facebook team member. It can take up to 24 hours for a final decision to be made. The appeal process currently only applies to posts removed for nudity, sexual activity, hate speech, or graphic violence, but Facebook plans to expand the process during the next year.

Facebook selling pre-roll ads

Pre-roll ads, which Facebook originally found to be disruptive to the original content users try to interact with, are now available to advertisers to take advantage of on the platform. The company began testing the placement in 2018 and changed their tune of resistance after a successful trial run. Facebook still limits how often pre-roll ads appear, only allowing the ads to run in search results or publisher pages, keeping them off news feeds.

New video metrics & chart tracking engagement feature

New video performances metrics are available in Facebook. This feature tracks and separates viewers into followers and non-followers, as well as highlighting the engagement levels from the audience throughout the video. Additionally, a bug that might have previously caused some inaccuracy in data for videos longer than two minutes has been fixed.

New facebook analytics feature to track omnifeature journey

To help businesses track what customers are doing before they make a purchase, Facebook introduced a new analytics feature that uses omnichannel data to show where customers start their interaction with a business and where they end. The channel ranges are from IOS, Android, Messenger, or Web, and helps optimize Facebook Page.

Pinterest steps up efforts to court entertainment brands

Entertainment is one of the fastest growing categories on Pinterest. Recently the site hired an entertainment strategist and announced that it has been testing video promotion advertisements that are being displayed at the maximum width of a phone screen. From that, Pinterest found that 67% of viewers act and are 2.6x more likely to make a purchase after seeing the video in the app. The feature is currently being tested with select advertisers like Adidas, Chevrolet, and Kohl’s, but Pinterest will be increasing the group later in the year for any brands that want to promote through video promotion.

CONCLUSION

Digital marketing moves fast. The landscape is constantly in flux, with updates and new tactics announced almost daily. It’s important to stay on top of the latest tools and trends – always testing tactics that make sense from a brand perspective – to remain successful amidst the volatility.

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